Closure for cylindrical container member



June 8, 1965 E. D. VISSING CLOSURE FOR CYLINDRICAL CONTAINER MEMBER Filed June 12., 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet l FIIIIIIIIIII INVENTOR.

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United States Patent 3,187,794 CLOSURE FOR CYLINDRIQAL CONTAINER MEMBER Ellin D. Vissing, E. D. Vissing (10., R0. Box 437, Idaho Fails, Idaho Filed June 12, 1961, Ser. No. 116,459 4 Claims. (Cl. 1s0--.s

The present invention relates to the manufacture of containerswith a closure that can be opened and closed at will. It is particularly applicable, but not limited, to containers such as are widely used by drug stores and similar establishments to package powders, pills and other small articles. A great many such containers must be used daily in such an establishment and the customers need the containers to keep the articles until they are used up. It is customary now to provide containers with separate caps. This container-cap assembly has the Weaknesses of high cost, time loss in assembling the cap and container and customer inconvenience occasioned by having to keep track of two pieces, one of which may get lost.

It is the purpose of the present invention to provide a container wherein the container and its closure constitute one piece of material, part of which is sufiiciently rigid to manufacture its shape, and part of which is flexible to act as a closure that can be opened to permit filling and emptying of the container, the flexible part being substantially covered and protected by the rigid part.

The nature and advantages of the invention will appear more fully from the following description and the accompanying drawingsillustrating a preferred form of my invention. The drawings and description are illustrative only, however, and are not intended to limit the invention except insofar as it is limited by the claims.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a side view of my improved container in closed condition;

FIGURE 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the container in open position;

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of the container in closed condition;

FIGURE 4 is a side view of the container in open condition;

FIGURE 5 is a longitudinal sectional view through a mold and die assembly showing the forming of the container immediately after injection;

FIGURE 6 is a sectional View similar to FIGURE 5 but taken on the line 6-6 of FIGURE 5 after final forming of the container; and

FIGURE 7 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 77 of FIGURE 4.

The container as illustrated, comprises a cup like base 1 of substantial thickness terminating in a fiap top rim 2. From the outer part of this top rim a thin flexible resilient tubular membrane portion 3 extends upward and, as shown, increases slightly in diameter upward. At its upper edge this membrane 3 joins a sleeve 4 of substantial thickness which extends down over the membrane 3 and the upper end of the base 1. The sleeve 4 has its lower end spaced outward slightly from the outer wall of the base 1 and, due to the increase of the membrane portions 3 in diameter upward, the space between the sleeve 4 and the portions 3 decreases until they join just below the top of the sleeve 4.

Any suitable moldable substance that is resilient, and in thin dimension, flexible enough to be twisted, may be used. I have found rubber, neoprene and polyethylene plastic compositions to be satisfactory. These materials are stiif enough to hold their shape when molded to a thickness of the order of inch and will produce a re- Patented June 8, 1965 ice silient and flexible film at a thickness of less than 31 inch. A container made of these substances may be used to pack a variety of products and as will be explained more fully hereinafter, can be closed and opened without any other parts. In other words, it is a container and cap or closure formed as an integral unit.

The closing of the container is accomplished by rotating the sleeve 4 with respect to the container 1, allowing the sleeve 4 to move down over the container as the tubular membrane portion 3 becomes shorter due to twisting it. The twisting of the portion 3 causes it to close in the same manner as the flexible resilient tube 23 shown in my prior Patent No. 2,972,190 closes. Effective closure may be accomplished by rotating the sleeve 4 about degrees or more with respect to the container 1. The more stretchable the material of the tubular membrane portion 3 is, the greater the amount of twisting it will take. Once the portion 3 is twisted to closing position it tends to open due to its resilience. It is therefore necessary to provide latch means between the sleeve 4 and the container 1 that can be engaged and disengaged at will. This latch means may vary considerably in detail so long as it prevents the sleeve 4 from turning back after the portion 3 is twisted.

As a latch means for holding the tubular membrane portion 3 in twisted container closing position, I provide a pair of oppositely disposed projections 5 and 6 on the container 1. These projections extend lengthvw'se of the container beyond the lower end of the sleeve 4 when the tubular portion 3 is in open position. They are reduced in height upward toward the portion 3 so that by flexing the container wall inwardly they can be removed from the mold. To complete the latch means the sleeve 4 has corresponding projections 7 and 8 formed on its inner sur face adjacent to its lower end. There is enough yield in the material from which the container and sleeve are molded to enable the projections to pass each other as the sleeve and container. are rotated with respect to each other to twist the tubular portion 3. When the sleeve projections 7 and 8 pass the container projections 5 and 6, they will snap inward and resist return.

To open the container one can compress the sides of the sleeve 4 between the projections, and thus cause the projections 7 and 8 to move outwardly and clear the projections 5 and 6. A single projection 5 and a single projection 7 will latch the parts in closed position but the placing of two oppositely disposed projections on the container and the sleeve give a more positive latching.

The manner of molding the container-closure is illustrated best by FIGURES 5-7. A mold 10 has a cavity 1a shaped to the desired contour of the container 1. This mold has recesses 5a and 6a disposed opposite each other to produce the projections 5 and 6. Note that these recesses are tapered inwardly toward the top so that the finished container can be stripped out of the mold after it is formed. The mold 10 has an annular tapered divider 11 that projects upwardly beyond the upper ends of the recesses 50 and 6a. The divider 11 cooperates with an annular wall 12 of the mold to form a wall 4a for the material that forms the sleeve 4.

A two-piece die must be used in molding the unitary container, due to the extremely thin nature of the membrane portion 3. It is practically impossible to pass a plastic material through such a thin section by injection molding procedures. As seen in FIGURES 5 and 6, the movable die includes a cylindrical slug 14 having a bottom surface corresponding to the desired bottom interior contour of the container 1. Slidably mounted on the slug 14 is a movable sleeve 18 having an exterior surface corresponding to the interior configuration desired for the membrane portion 3 and the top surfaces of sleeve 4. Sleeve 18is movable from a first position shown in FIGURE to a second position shown in FIGURE 6. Movement of sleeve 18 is accomplished by conventional die mechanisms. Small vents 17 are provided for the escape of I gas trapped in the mold cavity. A series of small vents 19 are opened to the area in which membrane portion 3 is formed. A squared shoulder. 15 at the lower end of sleeve 18 defines the upper edge of container 1 and the beginning of membrane portion 3.

Injection molding of the unit is accomplished in two steps which follow one another in .a fast sequence. With the slug 14 and sleeve 18in the position illustrated in FIGURE 5, liquid plastic material is forced through inlet 16. The clearance between mold and sleeve 18 is sufficient to insure that the entire cavity will be filled with the plastic material. As soon as complete filling is accomplished, sleeve 18 is pushed downwardly to the position shown in FIGURE 6. This finally forms sleeve 4 and membrane portion 3. Excess material is exhausted through vents 19 and may be recovered for later use. Thus a membrane thickness is achieved which could not be possible by use of simple molding procedures. As soon as the unit has been formed, the plastic material may be cured, using the necessary combination of heat and time required by the composition being used.

-As an alternative step in the formation of the thin membrane 3, one might split the mold 19 along a horizontal line below the bottom edge of the cavity for sleeve .4. The sleeve 18 may then be formed integrally with the upper split section. After pouring plastic material into the mold cavity as shown in FIGURE 5, one may stretch membrance 3 by separating the upper and lower sections while the poured material remains in a plastic condition.

Obviously, other processes of forming the container may be utilized, depending upon the size of the container elements and the material being used.

After molding the container the only problem of removal is to get the container projections 5 and 6 out of. the recesses 5a and 6a. The material is suflieiently flexible when cured to accomplish this. The vertical walls of the recess 4a may be slightly tapered to aid removal of the unit.

Although a positive latchv has been illustrated, frictional resistance between sleeve 4 and container 1 :will often be sufficient to insure the desired locking of the unit. Since sleeve 4 is of a greater radius than container 1, a projection of some sort must be provided on container 1 so that the projectionwill rub on the interior surface of sleeve 4. As an example, the projections 5 and 6 may be extended radially to touch sleeve 4. In such a case, the projections 7 and 8 may be eliminated.

The container body 1, its closure 3 and the sleeve 4 comprise one piece,,of the same material throughout and one molding operation forms a complete container and closure. This avoids allcap and container assembly and the time and expense of separately forming closures and bringing them to the containers. Throughout its use the one piece construction saves time and inconvenience. No loss of cap problems can exist. While I have shown the container 1 as a simple cup-like hollow body, it obviously may be variously shaped beyond the cylindrical open end that fits within and cooperates with the sleeve an overlapping sleeve of suflicient rigidity and wall.

thickness to retain its shape without additional support formed integrally with the outer end of said membrane and surrounding but being separated from the membrane from said outer'end thereof to the said one end of said member, said sleeve having an interior diameter sufiiciently large to receive and telescope over said one end of said member and being both rotatable and longitudinally movable relative to said member so as to enable said membrane to assume a twisted closed position;

and cooperating means on said sleeve and member adapted to selectively prevent motion of said sleeve relative to said member.

2. vA closure as defined in claim 1 wherein said lastnamed means comprises:

a plurality of outwardly directed radial projections formed integrally on :the exterior wall of said member adapted to frictionally engage theinner wall of said sleeve.

3. A closure as defined in claim 1 wherein said membrane increases in both interior and exterior diameter from its junction with said member to its'junction with said sleeve.

4. A closure as defined in claim 1 wherein said member comprises the inletopening of an enclosed container.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,431,918 10/22 Arthur -3 2,721,595 10/ 55 Nichols 220-24 2,857,071 10/58 Kuehne l5(l3 X FRANKLIN T. GARRETT, Primary Examiner. SAMUEL B. ROTHBERG, Examiner. 

1. A CLOSURE COMPRISING: A TUBULAR CYLINDRICAL CONTAINER MEMBER OF SUFFICIENT RIGIDITY AND WALL THICKNESS TO RETAIN ITS SHAPE WITHOUT ADDITIONAL SUPPORT; A THIN-WALLED TUBULAR MEMBRANE EXTENDING OUTWARDLY FROM ONE END OF SAID MEMBER AND FORMED INTEGRALLY THEREWITH; AN OVERLAPPING SLEEVE OF SUFFICIENT RIGIDITY AND WALL THICKNESS TO RETAIN ITS SHAPE WITHOUT ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FORMED INTEGRALLY WITH THE OUTER END OF SAID MEMBRANE AND SURROUNDING BUT BEING SEPARATED FROM THE MEMBRANE FROM SAID OUTER END THEREOF TO THE SAID ONE END OF SAID MEMBER, SAID SLEEVE HAVING AN INTERIOR DIAMETER SUFFICIENTLY LARGE TO RECEIVE AND TELESCOPE OVER SAID ONE END OF SAID MEMBER AND BEING BOTH ROTATABLE AND LONGITUDINALLY MOVABLE RELATIVE TO SAID MEMBER SO AS TO ENABLE SAID MEMBRANE TO AS SUME A TWISTED CLOSED POSITION; AND COOPERATING MEANS ON SAID SLEEVE AND MEMBER ADAPTED TO SELECTIVELY PREVENT MOTION OF SAID SLEEVE RELATIVE TO SAID MEMBER. 